[BAREFOOT] MANLY MORNING MEALS

*At Infinity Sourdough Bakery

I loooove breakfast. More so going out for breakfast. Yes of course it's not hard at all to slice up an avocado and put it on toast at home, but it's the whole sitting-in-the-sun, having-amazing-espresso-coffee, having-the-choice-to-order-anything-you-want and people-watching-while-eating kinda deal that makes it such an exciting activity. And I never have avocado nor toast ready at home for brekkie anyway because most of the time I wouldn't get to them for the second time before they go bad/become stale/get mouldy. :(

So as the weekend is coming up again, hopefully the weather will stay nice for you (because I'm going to work so it doesn't really matter to me *sobs*) and maybe we can catch up for breakfast in Manly. (Well I work in the afternoon. You can go to the beach afterwards you lucky bastard!) If you prefer to avoid my company, here are four great breakfast spots that are a little different from the usual eggs on toast joints, which you can check out for yourself. I can't promise you won't run into me though.


1- Belgrave Cartel, where you get spoiled Italian style
Sometimes I wake up in the morning and the first thing that comes to my mind is their chicken schnitzel panini (with avocado, rocket, cheese and pesto mayo, OMG). I might even smell it too, that's how much I love it. Their Bircher muesli is my absolute favourite, and I'd smash a panini and the muesli in one go. Pasta of the day, tuna rissoles and corn fritters make it really hard to decide as well when you're super hungry. It's cosy and relaxed, and the mismatching tables and chairs just make you feel so much at home (well, that would be my home). Perfect little hideaway for a rainy day too. Plus little in-house art installation!

2- Infinity Sourdough Bakery, for a simple sunny morning
If you feel like something easy (such as my beloved avocado on toast, or in this case, avocado on sourdough), this is the place to be. Obviously their breads are the highlight (I remember bringing a loaf to my relatives' with some bruschetta and nobody could stop); add Little Marionette coffee and a sneaky little pastry and you're set. It's just off the Corso, but so quiet and calm that you'd just forget about the weekend hustle and bustle one street down from you. Bring a paper and soak up the sun!

3- Adriano Zumbo + Barefoot Coffee, for a fancy little one
Both couldn't have ever chosen better neighbours for themselves - it must've been fate. As much of a superstar Zumbo has become and I've kinda gotten over the macaron hype, you just can't deny that their sugarland is damn fantastic (although their bread and pies are really good too). Grab a croissant or a berry brioche (dessert for breakfast!) and pop next door to Barefoot, where they never - and I mean never - fail to deliver a perfect coffee. If you can't snatch a seat at the ever-busy cafe (where you can eat your Zumbo purchase too), head across the street to sit in the grass and watch the ferries and boats and stand-up paddleboarders.

4- Jah Bar, for an all-day fiesta
It's the real Spanish deal. No bacon and eggs, no salmon benedict, but tortillas and breakfast empanadas, and bloody marys and breakfast martinis, just to get the morning started (and to get you stay into the afternoon ha!). This would be the place to be on a lazy weekend, when you're in no hurry to get anywhere else and wouldn't mind getting some more friends in for an afternoon sangria. Or wine. Or cocktail. The morning menu is small but definitely different and beautiful (you know my opinion on Jah Bar food already), so if you're up for some fun, go!


By the way, what I mean by breakfast is "first meal of the day". Having breakfast past lunchtime is really no uncommon ritual for me. Just can't start your day without the morning coffee hey, whatever time it may be.

X

[BAREFOOT] SUNSHINE CAKE

I've been baking disturbingly a lot recently. Valentine's Day, lunch party at relatives', second attempts because the first batch didn't turn out as expected, and simply because I was bored and didn't feel like doing anything else. I know the last one does sound quite disturbing, but don't worry, there are days that I don't feel like doing anything but staying in bed and watch movies just like everyone else too.

I usually look for recipes for cakes or other pastries and desserts that are easy to make, look fairly simple and rustic, and preferably have some sort of fresh fruit in them. I don't like icing, don't like cupcakes, don't like food colouring. Too cutesy, and I always worry I might get some sort of food poisoning when food is neon green or baby pink.

I felt like poppy seed cake the other night (yes I tend to bake at night and beat eggs for around 8 minutes, sorry neighbours), and found this amazing recipe for lemon poppy seed cake on Smitten Kitchen. Being a smartass I already bought my ingredients before I found a recipe and therefore only had oranges, but it still worked absolutely fine.

I also thinly sliced up one orange to put on top of the cake - gives it quite a festive look, and balances well with the rich cake. For those who are interested in making it, I used a regular springform pan (the cake will become hollow in the middle but who cares when the cake is so good), zest of two oranges and a whole pack of poppy seed (which would be around 1 1/4 cups). I don't mind a lot of poppy seeds at all - I kinda miss German poppy seed cakes, which are pretty much black. But anyway, this cake is absolutely lovely, probably best enjoyed with a cup of tea, and I think it tastes nicer when it's cold too. Polly's friend Marsha definitely liked it because she had it twice, and it was pretty impressive to watch Nilly have her belated birthday cake last night - I don't think she shared much of it, and the quarter of the cake was gone before she knew.

I read this article last week that says baking is like therapy. So true! You have to pay attention to all the steps and also don't want to waste time running around the kitchen to find shit, so you have to be fast and organised. But it's a really calm kind of concentration and gives you enough time to think while not getting too involved with it. I loved watching the texture of the 8 egg yolks and one whole egg for this cake change during the 8 minutes of beating. Whatever my problems were, it was pretty satisfying to see the end result, which really was "pale yellow and very fluffy", almost like whipped cream.


I guess some would really find me disturbing now.

[BAREFOOT] ONE OF THOSE TUESDAYS OFF

Just us cruising around the city on a day off. We usually go out for dinner, so we thought we could do with a bit of daytime Sydney for a change and had yum cha for lunch at Zilver, shopped around liquor and kitchenware stores (so Toby, such a workaholic. Although I immersed myself in the bakeware section straight away too ha), had afternoon drinks at Stitch, and enjoyed the long walks in between. By the time the city crowd could take over the eating and drinking houses we were back at home, cooking dinner and watching a movie. Yes, that's all we need to have a happy day off.


Well that Tuesday just happened to be Valentine's Day. We both agreed on how shamelessly commercial that day can be and decided to keep it low key (I tend to say every day should be Valentine's Day and am pretty satisfied that the actual V Day wasn't much different from our other days off). It's almost a dilemma: it would be kinda weird not to think of it as "Valentine's Day" and not wanting to do something nice together, but it's just so gay when shop assistants ask if you're after a last minute gift or what your plans are for tonight, see people rush down the streets with shopping bags (just like when they do last minute Christmas shopping!), and go to completely packed restaurants to enjoy some romantic time with another two million couples sitting shoulder to shoulder to you. Like totally romantic.

My boyfriend gave me a bicycle. One that he built, with an old frame of his, and the prettiest and most thoughtful details (Brooks leather saddle! Cork handles! Shopping basket! Flat pedals so I can ride barefoot! And even one of the original wheels!). He kept it cool all morning and didn't say anything, just mentioned he had to see one of his friends at his bike shop before we'd go to the city (thanks Karl for taking part in the mission!), and there it was. I couldn't stop grinning all day. It was almost a V Day crime to make the day so memorable with such an amazing gift. On the other hand, thank God it's not memorable because he gave me roses and chocolate; I would've been so disappointed. I'm just trying to sound cool here - my heart still jumps whenever I see it in my sunroom or take it out for a spin. I'm in love with it and super protective of it, and I guess you can imagine why. Last night I didn't speak to T during our ride home from Hana and Jason's because he jokingly said I should take better care of my bike when I put my bag in the basket and the bike fell over.



It's so beautiful. You're so beautiful.

My Bumblebee (now that the black details are gone I renamed it the blonde Bumblebee) and T's Mady. They get to stay in the best room in the house!

My presents were pretty lame compared to Bumblebee. Well at least now T has a nice box to store his watch and cufflinks, and you might spot him wearing my tie at work some time. All carefully selected after raiding numerous Salvos stores. Didn't we agree on low key?

X

[BAREFOOT] LITTLE DRAGON

Lunar New Year, 2012

It was lovely to be at home again after another year in Sydney, especially to see my sister, who's grown up so much while I'd been gone. It was a quiet and simple new year's this year, with a lot of time spent at my grandma's beautiful house, travelling with my dad's family to Phan Thiet and reuniting with my cousins, and hanging out at home heaps (simply because it was way too hot outside), rather than preparing crazy feasts and seeing thousands of relatives and acquaintances when you really just wanna chill out with your loved ones.

I dearly miss my little monkey (who is a little too full of energy for me though; my parents have been doing well in switching off and ignoring her non-stop babbling and jumping around), however spending two weeks at home made me realise how comfortable I've been here in Australia; I can't wait for my family to come see me and get to know the life I've built in Manly. In a way it was still strange though, to come home and not feel completely at home anymore. Now I have to wait for the moment that "this is where I belong" feeling hits me again.

College started again last week so I've been a little slow with posting, sorry. I actually didn't manage to tick any of the Fast Five boxes for the last week before uni, pretty slack.

[BAREFOOT] MELLOW MELBOURNE

Maybe not so much on the last photo, ha.
Sneaky little getaways are awesome, although this was the third time I went to Melbourne and the trip lacked the magic I felt last time I was there, probably because I already saw a lot during the previous trip (Check out my birthday trip to Melbourne here). Nevertheless it was amazing to feel so familiar with the city; walking around town was more about exploring little details this time rather than trying to get an idea of what the city is about.

T and I went to see his oldest brother and his family (again a super laid-back and happy team), and just walked and ate and drank as much as we could. It was just out of new year's so many places were still closed, but coffee at Brother Baba Budan was soooooo beautiful, and I got to go back to a few of my favourites like Cumulus Inc and Movida Next Door. It was warm, and fairly quiet - as usual. Melbourne always seems a tad slower and more relaxed than Sydney, which is refreshing for me everytime I go there. Not that I'm saying my life in Manly is any hectic though!

See you again, soon.

[BAREFOOT] OLD FASHIONED

T's little bar in his men's corner, and bike in my sunroom.

This and more daily inspirations on my scrapbook that one last piece of cake.